Fabrica Incident
The night sky was still, the moon gradually trailed its evening path through the sky. A few mice scurried here and there along the frozen forest floor. Frost and ice shook from the branches, below ground the earth shook with the rumble of machinery. A vast cavern hewn from granite and basalt stretched underground. Its walls lit with yellow and red light. Torches flickered in the vast abyss. One of the greatest minds of an entire race resided within. The main hall hummed with the barely contained volumes of power being pumped into the device, around the device Badgers scurried. Equipment was strewn everywhere, control lecterns and switch stations dotted around the room. The air was charged with invisible static. At the far end of the hall overseeing the entire floor, on a raised section surrounded by armoured glass, was the control room. Stairs descended from either side onto the main floor. The facility's main director ascended the left stairs and entered the control room. One of the operators noticed the director, 'At-mos values steady, r-unit fluctuations within parameters' Behind the operator, the director looked at the dials on the control panels. He tapped one, 'Good, angle T-foils 9 degrees' The director noted a couple of notes into his vast tome that he carried. His pen scraped against the ancient paper, bound by leather from an extinct animal. 'Yes, my lord.' The operator flipped a series of switches and dials. A barely perceptible change in tone from the machinery confirmed the change to the director. It was too subtle for the others to hear it, he thought 'RS base level falling' another operator voiced, '18.5. . .18.37. . . 18.29. . .' The director nodded, 'Maintain angle until RS base 12.6 achieved.' 'Yes sir!' A voice emerged from the entrance to the control room. Its resonance deep with age and experience. The voice was accompanied by a figure. 'Aemos?' The atmosphere of the control shifted instantly. The control staff froze in their places the unquestioning authority of this new voice The director closed his tome and turned his head to look at this new arrival. 'Ah, good of you to come at such short notice, Draven' Draven drew up beside director Aemos, his eyes narrowed on the far device. 'What is your progress?' Aemos had not ceased looking at the surrounding dial banks. The crew had somewhat recovered from their shock of Inquisitor Draven. Draven had that effect on people, 'Completing the final adjustments now, this is closer than we've ever been.' 'This is good news. how sure are you that it'll succeed this time?' 'Relatively confident, the previous attempts yielded missing structures within the space that we did not know existed before, whether this is due to the distance from the original matrix-network or some local phenomenon I cannot say.' 'I have faith in you Aemos, you will make this project succeed.' 'I thank you for your confidence. I have something I need you to do.' 'Yes?' Draven turned to Aemos. Aemos gestured towards the device. A faint haze, like above heated stone had begun to form around the device. 'If this succeeds, we will still need to construct some segments within the network . My teams will need military protection from the natives.' Draven nodded 'I can have teams ready within days.' Aemos had stopped looking at the dials and figures, he had turned directly on Draven. Draven noticed signs on Aemos that he had not seen in centuries. Aemos was nervous, he realised with something resembling caution. Those eyes that had seen and deconstructed the universe were now focused on him. 'Draven, understand that this is not merely pacifying some tribal natives in the wild. These are new paths in network we're going to be building. Unshielded, unrefined, the very antithesis of reality, I need only your most resistant adepts and soldiers for this. Nothing else is more important than this project.' 'I am familiar with the details of this project Aemos,' Draven reassured him, 'its my job to know everything.' 'I just need to make it clear.' 'And you have, brother. Half a legion strength should be sufficient. I shall want to fortify this side of the entrance, to ensure no spread of the taint.' Aemos nodded reassuringly, as if to himself. 'I have already contacted Tacitus, he is ferrying materials and work-crews from Sett'Hearth as we speak.' 'Good.' The two looked out of the glass towards the device. A row of lights lit up on one of the control lecterns, an operator immediately investigated the cause, 'My lords! RS base values at 12.9 and still falling' Aemos wheeled and tore a reel of paper from the Holtzgraph, 'Keep watching the numbers!' 12.8. . . .12.73. . .12.71 The machine begins to display erratic behaviour. 'Status?' Aemos asked the room. 'I don't know sir! Fluctuations in the. . .' Suddenly there was a crack, and the stink of ozone. A purple light formed from air and coalesced into substance. Draven was the first to react. He drew his pistol and fired into the unresolved proto-matter. It let out a hideous screech before it yielded to the laws of physics and fell with a hard thud to the floor. It splayed apart on the impact, like loosely packed snow. 'They're here.' Draven said to Aemos 'Shut it down!' Aemos ordered the control staff. 'We have my lord, power's being pumped from the other side.' Out on the main floor more dark spheres of purple light were beginning to solidify, the technicians and staff were fleeing towards the exits. 'Get any security this place has down here! The bastards only need a crack to leech through, they'll widen it with every one that appears.' 'Understood, brother. I will remain here and attempt to contain the breach.' Draven nodded, then left for the main hall. Aemos began barking orders to the crew back in the control room. 'You, you, you come with me!'Draven shouted. He pointed at several security personnel 'Get to the main hall and stamp these vermin out!' 'Yes, my lord!' was the chorused reply. Draven entered the main hall himself, the enemy were already well established. Badgers were pouring in from the entrances attempting to surround the enemy, but the Endermen had grouped themselves around the device, with more appearing all over the room. Draven drew his sword. He walked foreword, towards a cluster of Endermen holding their own at one of the other entrances, preventing any more badgers from entering. Another Enderman saw Draven and came at him. Draven shot him absent-mindedly as he continued to close on the group. He stabbed the first in the back before grabbing the second one at the neck, it hissed and squirmed under his grip. Steam was rising from its skin. Inlaid silver gloves, minute strands of silver woven in with the cloth, thrice blessed by Archbishop Sirium himself. He smiled before he twisted its neck with a crack. The third had only time to turn before Draven's blade plunged into its skeletal abdomen. Draven then launched at the last and swung his blade in a wide arc. The thing split in two under the holy steel. It's unholy innards spilling and steaming from where they had touched the blade. The badgers held off by the endermen entered the room. 'Follow me.' Draven ordered. He turned and marched towards the main body of the enemy force. He reloaded. He began running, his cohort trailing his advance Draven hit the enemy force like an arrow, within seconds three enemy were dead, another two shortly after. Draven was not as adept in front combat as Tacitus but he was an extraordinary swordsman. He carved his way through the enemy ranks, but he could see it wasn't going to be enough to stem the tide quickly. There were too many to dispose of in a short manner, dozens, perhaps hundreds were already materialising in the air around him. Leaping and hissing they attacked his brethren. He saw Badgers fall under grotesque claws and teeth. His mind went back to Verstanum. For centuries he and his brothers had fought hordes like this. Anger suddenly exploded within him, he would not allow the Badger race to experience a second Reckoning. These monsters died here, he declared. As if in answer a low screech echoed throughout the hall, almost painful to the ears. Those Badgers that made the mistake of covering their ears were mown down by opportunistic Enderman and hacked to pieces. 'Drake' thought Draven. His eyes confirmed what his ears told him, behind a cohort of the enemy, an ender dragon was materialising out of the abyss. Purple haze trailed behind its movements where it's mass was still forming from the void. It must die quickly, Draven thought. He rushed towards it, striking the first Enderman with his shoulder and driving through his sword. He threw the protesting body at one of its fellows before he shot another trying to get behind him. He jumped at another and parried a swipe at his head. He dispatched it with a downward slice and resumed advancing forward. He dragon had seen him now. It observed him with eyes that weren't fully yet within reality. It opened its mouth. Draven lurched to one side as flame, purple and unnatural, spewed across the combatants. It burnt indiscriminately across the floor. Draven ran past flailing bodies of badgers and Endermen alike. He reached the dragon. It roared and swung at him. He ducked and turned, bring his sword over him. The vast claw passed inches over him, his sword carving a deep swathe in the unholy matter of the beast. The dragon screeched and drew its claw back, giving Draven the chance to close. He stabbed its mid section and drew another screech from the beast. Its hind claw almost knocked Draven from his feet as it impacted on his body. He maintained balance and advanced for another attack. The Dragon opened its mouth again and flung a wide cone of flame at Draven. A huge area was wreathed in swirling fire as the dragon fought against the wounds that this little creature had dared to inflict upon it. It finished belching fire and tried to see its attacker. It was gone. This was the dragon's last thoughts before Draven emerged from behind and decapitated the beast. The squirming carcass writhed under Draven and he dismounted. The Enderman had gained significantly more ground and the battle had expanded from the area immediately surrounding the device. The Badger groups had become separated from one another, to close on the device they have to present a single front, Daven started towards the nearest group. Hping he could unify the disparate formations. The first Enderman in his path was stooped over the body of a technician. Draven stabbed it in the back, he ran on. The second one saw Draven and hissed. It charged Draven, its form shifting in and out of reality. Draven parried the first blow and took its head off with his return. Another to his left. He made right before slashing left, the creature parted in two at the waist. Nearby a Badger was in combat with another, the Enderman threw the Badger to the ground and leapt at him. Draven shot it mid pounce. 'Get up!' He commanded the Badger. The Badger rushed to his feet and scrambled for his weapon. Draven blocked a swipe to his midsection, his assailant attacked again only to lose an arm. Then its head. Draven swept through the melee. Every swipe, every blow. Dozens lay slain at his feet. He looked round. The Badgers were being pushed back. The device had increased in power, more and more of the creatures were spawning from oblivion. Draven fought to the cluster of Badgers who had grouped into formation. 'You there! You lot with me! We must get to the device!' The hallexploded with light, bright as day, brighter than day. Its source was towards the main cargo exit. The heavy, steel exit had been opened, Draven saw. A figure stood in the entrance, bathed in incandescent light. Draven recognised it. Its eyes, that had showed more pain and grief over the centuries than anything else in this world, now blazed red with anger. The room itself diminished to a mere backdrop to the figure. It advanced towards them, towards the device. The Endermen perceived this newcomer as a bigger threat and went to meet him. They violently dissolved before the figure, a blinding cone of incandescent rage preceded the figure as he walked forward. Endermen and daemons came apart as they entered this invisible barrier. The survivors reeled from the power of this individual and retreated back to the device. They attempted to flee but the surviving Badgers were giving no quarter. Endermen were cut down as they fled. Blasted from the walls and ceiling, hacked apart underfoot or simply torn apart by the ever enclosing arc of rage approaching the device. The figure stopped, invisible power radiating from him like a barely contained star. 'Cease.' Draven and the other occupants felt, more than saw, a wall of power blast through them. It hit the Endermen and rendered them to their constituent molecules. The device powered down, the great hidden machinery cycling down into lower and lower pitches. Great steam pistons and clockwork slowly coming to a standstill. The newcomer turned and walked over to Draven, who sheathed his sword and bowed. Every Badger in the hall fell to their knees. 'Brother?' Draven asked the figure The figure nodded, Draven saw lighting still spark the air around the figure. He could feel his fur want to stand on end from the charge. 'They knew.' was the reply Draven rose to look directly at this newcomer. 'How?' He saw Aemos approaching them from the control room. 'The matrixculum network has become tainted.' '''The haze of power around the figure was evaporating, Draven could feel the air settling down to a more manageable level of static. The tang of ozone remained however. 'Its treacherous invaders cram its hallways and chambers. They've become attuned to its vibrations, any disturbance we make, they know.'' 'Should we not have known this before?' Aemos asked. He trailed behind him fresh printouts of data. They emerged from his pack like overflowing vines. '''I had suspicions. These were confirmed a few days ago when your efforts made the first incision strikes into the walls of the network. I heard the enemy shout and howl at the intrusion. I made my way here, to shut the project down before they could exit. ' 'This is most perturbatory. What is our next step now that we cannot breach the halls of the matrixculum?' Aemos asked. 'Any connection to the matrixculum is a bridge, and like a bridge it is fragile and narrow, easily clogged with chaff and bodies. ' 'We widen the bridge. . .' Draven finished. 'Exactly Draven, you could not know it, but I perceived the other end of this failed bridge. It was swarming with them. What came through was only the advance guard. There were millions just behind them, as well as one of the damned. ' 'What you say is most troubling. . .' Draven agreed, if one of the damned was involved then this incident attracted far more attention than was initially planned. 'Aemos? Can they counter-breach the crater left by this attempt? Should we prepare for invasion?' 'No, they cannot. We are in an unknown location relative to the matrixculum, whereas I already knew the precise layout of the network and was able to tunnel towards it. It would be like trying to discern the location of a bird in a forest by its chirp seconds after a great explosion.' Aemos turned to the High Lord Badger, 'Even if they could figure out the location, it took me 320 years to construct this device, and I was the one who built the Matrixculum in the first place. They could not do it quicker.' Draven nodded, 'So we widen the bridge. . . create a pathway 200- 400m in width. Enough for a legion to march through? They could not withstand that.' ''They would not need to, only stall you until the damned arrive. At which point this continent will be plunged into the same war we fought in Verstanum. ' 'What is your suggestion?' 'Multiple, simultaneous breaches in far flung areas of the network. Once in, we can isolate and reinforce strategically significant sections of the network, bring it back under our control. ' Draven frowned 'We will still have the problem of breaches being clogged with enemies from the other side. The first breaches will be hard fought.' 'Not necessarily. Badgers need not fight the first breaches. ' 'What do you mean?' 'We open the first breaches under foreign lands. The enemy will swarm to them and spew out underneath enemy territories, while later, then, we open breaches in our own facilities. Overrun the distracted sections of the network. ' 'Let the beavers or goblins take the brunt of the assault. This also closes any potential for an attack on us while we're occupied with the invasion.' Aemos nodded and drew his tome. 'If we are careful, we can orchestrate an alliance under the pretext of shared co-operation against the external threat, if we make it known to them at the time of activation the invaders attack us as well. ' Draven saw the formation of a plan. We must not act too hastily here, he thought. 'Beaver towns is not as defensibily minded as our own cities, how long can we count of them lasting against the onslaught?' Aemos flicked his tome pages and arrived at a page 'Estimates would vary on the number of breaches we open. If we made 5 or 6 breaches under their lands like the one here, I would estimate complete socio-political collapse within 3 months. The more fortified towns may hold out for years but they would be isolated and overrun inevitably.' His mouth wordlessly moved in mental calculation. '3 months to seize control of the network. . .any longer and the enemy will start encroaching on our own borders. We'd be fighting on two fronts.' 'Indeed. It is precarious.' Draven cautioned. 'But not undoable. After the first breaches made under the Tsardom we could open up twice that in our facilities. ' Aemos nodded, 'When Tacitus arrives I'll get him to run projections on the outcome. As well as force dispositions and likely resistance points.' 'Brother Aemos, I am giving you unlimited access to replicate this project in other areas. We will talk tonight about where the facilities must be dug. ' The three exited the hall, leaving cleanup crews to clean and repair the damage. Far above their heads, directly over the facility, a cluster of charred trees blazed with flame in the frozen night, ashes and smoke rising into the sky.